• Ally is a very special miniature horse. She struggles with her health having allergies, laminitis, and Cushing’s disease. Even through her struggles she is the sweetest little girl you may ever meet. She came to MMFS because her caregiver could no longer take care of her. You will often see our volunteers taking Ally on a walk and she is more than happy to plod along to have some company and soft pets.

  • Casper is an Arabian horse who is probably in his late teens. His history includes being left at a kill pen in Louisiana where he was abused and starved. He joined our friends at Rising Star Rescue in CT before coming to us. He truly needed a sanctuary setting to live out his days. He struggles with anxiety and a history of neglect and abuse. He has come a long way and we will keep working with him to build up his courage.

  • Dolly has joined the sanctuary from our friends at Gerda’s Equine Rescue in Townshend, VT after she was found roaming loose with four other minis in rural Pennsylvania. Dolly is estimated at 30 years old, and although she has some age to her she is in pretty good condition. She still has spunk left in her and she loves to run around. One of her biggest challenges right now is her left eye shows some damage that we are treating topically but also taking a closer look at. Dr. Alex of Vermont Large Animal loves looking at eyes and we spent some time looking at poor Dolly’s eye. The pressure in her eye looked good which is a good sign, but we can see trauma to that eye from the past. Welcome to the MMFS Dolly. We look forward to you being able to mingle with the crew and get to know everyone more.

  • Ducky is a very large spotted draft horse who is in his early teen years.  He is a quirky, anxious guy and we have not been able to figure out how to solve this even with a lot of training with some of the best folks out there.  We had to decide it is safest to let this sweet boy be part of the sanctuary and have no pressure to ever have to be ridden.  He is a huge sweet boy that has very nice manners.  He is scared of many things in this world, but he is safe here being himself. 

  • Eno is a mid-teens very handsome boy whose cuteness draws people in, but then he is a little grumpy and lovingly tries to bite or occasionally kick (but we love him nonetheless). He struggles with navicular and some other body soreness issues, so we try to keep him as comfortable as we possibly can. He is the perfect example of a pony who has been passed around the “circuit” and always gets moved along because he is hard to keep sound to work him. Our fear was that Eno would end up in a kill pen because he does not stay sound easily or inexpensively, so he gets moved along through owners. At MMFS he will be safe to just be himself. Cranky but extraordinarily cute!

  • Honey is our golden angel. She is a Palomino who joined the sanctuary from a state surrender case where she was severely neglected and starved. She is believed to be in her mid-20s and is one of the worst starved horses any of the vet staff has ever seen. She is on a slow road back to health.

  • Iceman is a late teens Frisian cross who has had a career in dressage. He has made attempts to come back in to work, but he struggles with constant ulcers and anxiety. After seeing this happen too many times it was decided that Iceman will work on learning to breathe and having a less stressed life. He has a tough time eating so we’ve been working with our vets to look at different ways to make him more comfortable. He is an absolute love and very beautiful. He eats a lot of special foods since he has difficulty with hay.

  • Jack is a mini horse in his early twenties. He came to MMFS in January of 2024. He is local to Vermont. A few months before coming to MMFS, he lost his best friend and soulmate. He was very depressed and needing to find a new herd and place to retire. Jack has very similar medical challenges as our other mini-horse Ally. We are hoping Jack will find new friends at MMFS and be happy in the remainder of his years.

  • Mickey is a long time lesson and driving pony who is spending his retirement at MMFS. Mickey worked in a therapeutic program for kids that couldn’t physically ride. The children would ride in a cart lead by Mickey to get the feeling of riding a horse. He is a sweet guy. Mickey was recently diagnosed with Cushing’s disease. He is in his early twenties and is starting to slow down.

  • Molly is a late teens or early twenties quarter horse mare who has been part of MMFS for the past few years. She will stay with us and live out her retirement in peace and tranquility. She struggles a bit with her health due to Cushing’s disease and occasional laminitis flare ups. She is generally a sweet girl to be around.

  • Odie is a lovely palomino horse who is in his twenties. He has lived at Merrymac Farm for several years. He is very is bonded to his herd of ponies and spends his time in the field with his buddies Mickey, Dewey, and Rabin. Odie is a fairly quiet guy who loves attention and grooming.

  • Pluto is the most precious loving gelding that started his life as a PMU foal. His mom was forced into being pregnant so they could collect urine to make a human hormone. He was taken away from his mom at birth and bottle fed. Bottle fed horses can learn some less desirable traits. He came from Springhill Rescue in Vermont and made MMFS his permanent home many years ago. Pluto is in his early twenties and has Cushing’s, but we manage it with watching his diet.

  • Rabin is a very special older (early twenties) pony who is a true gem. He has been a pony club pony and taught many to be better riders over the years. He has Cushing’s and struggles with his medicine sometimes, but otherwise is just an incredible gentleman with the most perfect manners a pony could have.

  • Romeo came to MMFS with Honey. He is also from the state surrender case where he was severely neglected and starved. Romeo is younger than Honey and likely in his teens. Romeo luckily has regained his health much faster than Honey, but will retain the scars of neglect and starvation for the rest of his life.

  • Rumi is Tessa’s (see Tessa’s story above) daughter. She was adopted out to what was thought to be her forever home and rescued sick and starving. She is a young, spritely horse who loves both her mom Tessa, but also has adopted Rosie as another surrogate mother.

  • Sweet little Tessa came to MMFS a couple years ago from our dear friends at Rising Star Horse Rescue in CT. Tessa was found in a kill pen in Texas with a baby along her side and pregnant again. Her first baby stayed with the original rescue, and she moved to Rising Star where she had her second baby. Tessa herself was still a baby. She was only four by the time she had two foals. We felt like we wanted to let her be a young pony for a while. She gets groomed, loved on, told how special she is.

Tizmas

  • Tizmas arrived at Merrymac in October 2024. He is a 15 year old Thoroughbred gelding who spent the first part of his life racing and was retired in 2018. Tizmas was retrained as a Hunter/Jumper until an unfortunate accident derailed his progress and he faced a series of hardships.

    When Tizmas arrived at Merrymac Farm Sanctuary, his condition was heartbreaking. He came to us with a body score of just 2, underweight and malnourished, and struggling with severe health issues. Tizmas was battling a coffin bone infection, laminitis flare-up and was also being treated for ulcers, EPM (Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis), and West Nile Virus.

    Despite his health struggles, Tizmas’s sweet nature has never wavered. His gentle and kind spirit remains strong and our dedicated team is committed to helping him regain his health and comfort. He requires ongoing vet care, a special diet, and careful monitoring. We are hopeful that with time and the right support, he will be able to enjoy a comfortable life at the sanctuary. We will continue to share his journey as he works towards a life filled with happiness and healing.

    Donate to Tizmas’s Care Fund.

  • Zydin is a retired Detroit police horse who was started as an Amish horse. He has an amazing soul, and probably has some serious stories he could tell all of us. He needed a quieter life after wood was abscessed out of his leg a few years ago. It was removed, but his owner felt like he needed a less demanding schedule.

  • Von is an Icelandic horse in her early twenties who also came out of the sad closing of a farm shutting its doors. She is one of the sweetest girls and definitely very beautiful. We were asked to take her when we took Katur, and not a day goes by that we regret saying we would! She is a true doll.

Meet the Horses

In Memorial

  • (passed Aug 2023)

    We lost Katur due a TMO and neurological issues that were severely affecting his quality of life. Katur was a late twenties Icelandic horse who came to MMFS after the farm he lived at for many years was closing down. They were going to put him down along with many others because they were “done” with them. The NE Icelandic Horse group is a very dedicated group of equine lovers and they worked together to find these horses homes. We were so happy to give Katur the best retirement possible.

  • (passed Sept 2024)

    We lost Teddy likely to cancer. We only had a few months with him at the sanctuary, and feed grateful to have cared for our elderly boy. Teddy was a beautiful 35+ year old pony who was used for many years as a show jumping lesson pony. He was very loved by many of his former riders who stayed involved in his life. With no teeth he relied on having many mash meals prepared for him throughout the day.

  • (passed Jan 2024)

    Spori was a beautiful 30 year old Icelandic horse who joined MMFS to spend the remainder of his days hanging out with the pony geldings and munching on some hay.  He was in great shape for a 30 year old horse, but he still needed some TLC when it came to daily care and feeding.   Spori was the sweetest older gentleman and loved attention and grooming. 

  • (passed Aug 2024)

    Rosie was a beloved lesson horse for most of her years. However she came to MMFS after being rescued from Rising Star Horse Rescue. She was adopted with Rumi. She was skinny, starving and neglected. She was as a sweet girl who loved her gal pals Rumi and Tessa. Rosie adopted Rumi like she was Rosie's own baby. She had Cushing’s disease and struggled eating due to teeth issues. She was in her late twenties.